Superintendent Greene deserves coal in her stocking

We have all heard the old saying, with friends like these, we don't need enemies. Well, superintendent Greene has repeatedly said she supports our LGBTQ students, but her actions speak a lot louder. With a  friend like her, the LGBTQ community definitely doesn't need any enemies.  

Over the summer, she had her district apparatchik scratch off rainbow stickers from classroom walls and doors, followed by district changing policies which now say teachers could no longer post items like safe place stickers and rainbow flags in their classrooms. Shortly thereafter, the district LGBTQ  support guide was gutted, and anti-bullying videos were taken down.

Recently the district ended an over twenty-year relationship with JASMYN, a local nonprofit that serves LGBTQ youth. She did so based on so-called media reports from far-right blogs known for spreading misinformation. She also did so without consulting the school board, and the less-than-compelling defense of her actions could be summed up by saying she said she did so because she could. 

Where all of that is indefensible, the worst thing she did was remain silent. As the superintendent, she has a pulpit she could use to inform and educate people, but time and time again, she has refused to do so. So when the "don't say gay" law was passed, she remained silent rather than speaking about its unnecessary and harmful consequences. 

Time and time again, the LGBTQ community was attacked, including by school members Carney and Joyce, and rather than stand up for and educate the public, Greene piled on, making things worse.

She can say she supports the LGBT community, but her actions speak otherwise.   

Joyce and Carney supporter Raymond Johnson call people pediohiles and groomers at the SB meeting and gets away with it.

Wouldn't it be nice if an SB member stood up to people who called teachers pedophiles and groomers and told them they were wrong and to go pound sand? Maybe the reason they don't is that it is their close supporters doing it. At the 2:06 mark of the SB meeting, noted bigot and homophobe Raymond Johnson spoke and said some horrible things. The SB just shrugged.

Some low lights are, he said, the new sex-ed curriculum promoted sodomy with minors, and JASMYN was a pedophile group that sexually grooms children. How his mic wasn't cut is beyond me.

Here is a little bit about the pro confederate flag and anti-HRO Raymond Johnson

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/search?q=Raymond+Johnson

Then earlier this year, Carney and Joyce proudly appeared with him

It seems to me that too many members of the SB would rather stand with him rather than with outstanding civic organizations like JASMYN. Though if their silence is any indication, maybe more than a few do believe our schools are filled with pedophiles and groomers.  

Greene's lackluster defence of her own actions

Greene took a sledgehammer to the district's 20-year relationship with JASMYN, the local group that provides services to the LGBTQ community. She did so without consulting the board or the community and instead citeing media reports. The media turned out to be a far-right blog known for publishing false and misleading pieces. Other than an email to principals, there has been a lot about her decision until the last school board meeting, when the defense of her indefensible actions could have been better, to say the least. 

Her presentation started at the 47-minute part, and she jumped right into it, pointing out that board policy gives her the power to approve or dismiss any contract under 75k, which the JASMYN contract was. In her speech, she doesn't mention the media reports. She just said she heard about it a few days after Thanksgiving, meaning her process took less than 48 hours.  

Sadly she seems to think that despite all her attacks on the LGBTQ community, refusing to speak out against the DSG bill, taking down anti-bullying videos and gutting the LGBTQ community, her words of support mean something.

She went on to speak about how as a constitutional officer, she is obligated to protect children. However, that obligation doesn't stretch to reporting unsafe behavior to the authorities.  

Following, she said children will be able to receive the same services they had been all along though that seems highly doubtful. She wants to speak to other organizations to see if they can pick up what the district is losing, something that maybe she should have done before listening to a far-right blog and then summarily ending a 20-year relationship.  

Basically, she said she saw something she didn't like and terminated the relationship because she could. 

I encourage you to listen to her remarks; just be prepared to be underwhelmed. 

Board meeting

The so called media Greene used to end a decades old partnership with JASMYN

 Greene reported to reports in the "media" as a reason she summarily ended the decades-long relationship with JASMYN, the local support agency for LGBTQ youth.  

On November 18th, two rags published stories about JASMYN, the Post Millennial, which seems more of a copy-and-publish piece, and the Florida Standard, both of which are known for publishing false and misleading pieces. I will concentrate on the Florida Standard and the author of their piece, Zac Howard.

Here are a couple of tweets from his Twitter page.

If you look at his Twitter page, Zac really seems preoccupied with the sexualization of children, which is probably more projection than reporting. Either way above is a lie.

They announced nothing close to this, but what do facts matter when you are part of the Media. 

Hillsborough county would disagree with the assertion; they want to keep grooming children, and on a side note, I missed Zac's election to the overlord of everything decent and right. Also, if Zac has any experience with what is developmentally appropriate for children, his resume is very light on it.

My only comment is gulp.

He is also okay with spreading covid misinformation.

Counselors, I wasn't at the training. Were any of you trained to tell kids to lie to their parents? 

Zac apparently thinks Candice Owens is "media," too. 

Tell me you don't understand what teachers do without telling me you know what teachers do?

Over the last few months, I would say about a third of his pieces had something to do with sex a third. The preoccupation is troubling. I then went back to 2020 (he is missing about two years' worth of tweets which makes me think, for some reason, he deleted a whole bunch, probably COVID misinformation but that's just a guess), and it seems he was a regular, if slightly boring guy, and it wasn't until he got to the Florida Standard that he went all take a loose string and turn it into a tapestry of lies, i.e., what most far-right media does. Fortunately, his pieces don't make much of a dent, except inexplicably with superintendent Greene and he seems to have the same amount of readers I do when I post what I had for lunch. 

I guess the bottom line is for anyone in a position of responsibility and authority to make a decision based on what he wrote is a manifest miscarriage of sanity and decency, and if Greene and the SB don't get that, then they are a big part of the problem.  

Greene replies to my concerns about DCPS ending its relationship with JASMYN, she doesn't give a #@!%

 Hey, am I media? I mean, if the Florida Standard and Post Milineal count as media, so must Education Matters, right?

So I sent the five levels of sane members my concerns about the district ending its relationship with JASMYN.

Many people were dismayed at the sudden announcement that the district had ended its decades-long relationship with JASMYN based on some "media" reports. First, if you google JASMYN no such media reports come up, but more outrageous is Dr. Greene's dereliction of duty.

She is a mandatory reporter. If she feels JASMYN has been showing pornography to children, she is required to report it, and the fact that she hasn't made me and many others believe this is part of her anti-LGBTQ agenda. 

The school board sets policy; you can overrule her, which is what you should do as soon as possible. Please prove me and large swaths of the community wrong that you not only don't care about LGBTQ children and staff, but you are against them.

And I guess one of them forwarded it to the super, and she replied

I imagine the only difference between my response and every other response that will be sent out is the Mr. Guerrieri at the top.

No effort to address the source of her so-called concerns or why she hasn't reported JASMYN, nothing,  but yada, yada, yada, I don't care.

The district has taken a far-right turn that should alarm us all, and for what? Not to improve education or protect students; that's obvious; the only reason is to appease and side with bigots and public eduction haters. We should and could be doing better.   

Insurretion Barbie, April Carney claims her first victim, DCPS's 20 plus year relationship with JASMYN

 Attacks are coming fast, and furious against Florida's LGBTQ community, and nowhere is that more evident than in Duval County Public schools, where teachers had rainbow stickers scraped off walls and all the protection that LGBTQ children had have been gutted.

Superintendent Greene has been pushing her anti-LGBTQ agenda for months now and if the past is prologue Greene's excuse blaming recent "media" for severing the district's relationship with JASMYN is nothing but an excuse, and it would have happened sooner or later, with emphasis on the sooner with April Carney now on the board. 

Greene sent the email below to district staff. 

The so-called "media" is most likely a piece in the Post Milineal, a far-right faux outrage outfit well-known for taking a string of truth and turning it into a tapestry of lies. To refer to it as media is a stretch to say the truth, but it is without a doubt the type of literature that people like Carney, who still won't confirm or deny if she was at insurrection, come on, real media, don't let her off the hook, consumes, like a fat kid at a buffet.

When you google Post Milineal, this is what comes up.

 

Hmmm, known for false and misleading stories, why I have the vapors .

So we have an anti-LGBTQ superintendent and don't take my word for it; take her actions, working with a school board member who in all likely hood participated in the insurrection and again don't take my word, take her lack of ones, ending a relationship with an organization that has undoubtedly saved lives and for what?

Shame on both of them and if the reasonable members of the school board let that stand, then shame on them as well. 

It is Mike Pompeo and the republican party who spread filth, not teachers

 First, I understand there are many decent republicans who understand how hard it is to be a teacher and the important job that they do, but if they are being silent, if they are allowing all the attacks on teachers and public education to go unchecked, then they are just as bad as the ones spreading the filth. Their silence has gone from complicity to support. 

Asked who the most dangerous person in the world was, former secretary of state and undoubtedly future presidential aspirant Mike Pompeo said Randi Weingarten, president of the teachers union. 

Republicans have been running on demonizing and lying about public education for a couple of years now. When CRT began to lose steam, they pivoted to teachers grooming children to switch their gender identities both under a backdrop of teachers teaching kids to hate their country. 

Irresponsible, egregious, and nothing but lies, and why? To gin up a willfully ignorant fact-free electorate, and they do it so they can assume power, not caring about the damage they do, the lives they kneecap, and sometimes destroy along the way. 

Are there problems in public education? Absafreakinglutely but many of these problems are created by the same people who want to profit off of public education either monetarily or through the acquisition of power and both groups aren't above spreading lies to do so. 

Pompey has the audacity to say, the "filth they are teaching our kids" when the reality, it is he and his party that is spreading filth, that are spreading lies, and that is spreading hate and shame on the so-called good republicans that know this and remain silent. Shame on them all. 

So who really is is the most dangerous person in the world? It is a tie with all the people who would spread lies and demonize others just so they can benefit.

DCPS sits on 20 million dollars that could be used to pay staff

 I have a feeling it may actually be more.

I am beyond disappointed that the district told the community these were desperate times and we needed to pass a millage increase to help pay salaries, and then after it passed, shrugged their shoulders and said, we will get to that next year. The fact they are sitting on a little over 20 million they could use doesn't help things. 

The district is required to keep three percent in reserves, not 5.07 percent. This means they are sitting on 20 million n dollars that they could use to address staff salaries.

A couple of things, I and most of the city was led to believe something would happen this school year. I was told it would probably be after the winter break.

Everyone knows that when you pass a mileage increase on Monday, money doesn't start to flow in on Tuesday. I figured they would borrow money using the future money as collateral, something they have done many times or they would take from their excess reserves, which right now is 20 million dollars.

I would have supported the mileage increase even if the district would have said it wouldn't kick in until next year, but they never said that. Then if it was so important that the district had to come hat in hand to ask the community to step up, how is waiting till next year to address it even a consideration?

DCPS has long preferred to look good rather than be good, and this is yet another example.     

The solution to helping teachers has been staring us in the face, it is more work

 I am working on a piece about planning in our elementary schools, and it is abysmal. Now just about every teacher will tell you they need more planning but what we do to the teachers in elementary schools, especially those smaller schools that don't have a full complement of resources, is criminal. This blog, however, is not about that; instead, its about helping all teachers and by having them work more.

Teachers in my district work 7.33 hours a day. I say it that way because that's what I am supposed to put on my leave forms. What would happen if teachers worked 8 hours a day and that extra 40 was additional duty-free planning? I think it would help solve some of our problems. 

That would be the key, though, additional duty-free planning. Districts couldn't look at it, or the other planning teachers and think of ways to load teachers up even more.

Right now, much of my "planning" is already designated for other things. A fifth has been set for common planning, and as an ESE teacher, about 48 of my planning periods, a quarter of my total, will be spent either writing or having IEP meetings. This means almost half of my planning won't be spent, um, planning.    

There are lots of issues in education, and this isn't going to solve the lack of support and respect issues; no, we have to work on the soul of the country to help solve those problems, but it will help with the lack of time and a little with pay too as this would amount to an almost 8 percent bump in pay.

Most teachers work 10-15 and even more unpaid hours after their duty time ends each week. Time they should be with their families or taking care of themselves. An extra 3 hours and twenty minutes a week will help with that. Not solve it, mind you, because the system depends on suckers, err sorry dedicated teachers sacrificing their time and energy, and without it, things would grind to a halt, but it would help.  

So powers that be, if you care about teachers and I have doubts that you do, figure out a way to work them more. It will help us all. 

  

 

In a letter to Jax Today, the district all but tells teachers to expect mileage money this year (draft)

 I feel duped and betrayed by the announcement the mileage change won't kick in this year, and I know I am far from the only one. Before you lambast me for not understanding, money won't start immediately; I did understand that, and I didn't expect any mileage money until after the holidays; read what the district told Jax Today just a few short weeks ago.

From Jax Today

In an email to Jacksonville Today, a Duval County Public Schools spokesperson says there are three reasons the district chose to bring the tax increase to voters in August instead of November. The first: because “the teacher shortage is real, so the sooner they know about their future salaries the sooner we can impact that trend.”

The district also wanted to start union negotiations for the pay increase as soon as possible. 

https://jaxtoday.org/2022/08/26/askjaxtdy-why-wasnt-the-school-tax-referendum-during-the-general-election-when-more-people-vote/

Um, as things stand now, passing the mileage will do nothing to help this year, absolutely nothing, despite it being sold as a necessity to fend off a pending disaster, and that's how the district sold the mileage rate for months. Help us, please; we need to save our teachers; there was never a "we will do it next year" caveat.

Then how hollow are those excuses? We have to get it done quick so we can get the ball rolling, well friends, that ball screached to an almost immediate halt.

I never expected the district to have mileage money this year, not for a second; I did expect the district would borrow money on expected income and or tap into their reserves to start things off, something I believe they could still do if they wanted to. If they were sincere about taking care of its people, but the reality is DCPS has never cared about its staff; we are all just a means to an end, and up till recently, an easily replaceable means to an end. 

You may not have been one of them, but lots of people voted for the mileage increase with the expectation something would kick in this year, and those people were tricked, and if you want evidence, look at every single thing the district said about it.

DeSantis's failed teacher pay scheme

 As election season ramps up, so do the lies and half-truths, and as a teacher, the one that infuriates me the most is DeSantis claiming he raised teacher salaries. The truth is he did raise salaries for beginning teachers, people who had never been in a classroom, but he did so by cutting the salaries of veteran teachers, people who had dedicated their lives to the state's children.

To raise beginning salaries, the state took money from two programs, Best and Brightest, and school recognition funds, two admittedly flawed programs that mostly benefitted teachers in affluent schools but did put money in veteran teachers’ pockets. The effect was tens of thousands of veteran teachers took pay cuts. So while DeSantis was saying look at me, look what I did, veteran teachers were looking at their bank accounts shrink.

Then think about the plan that DeSantis was so proud of. He made it so that a teacher who just started and a teacher who spent over a decade in our schools was paid basically the same. He did not just shrug his shoulders at this disrespect, but he reveled in it. He could have made it, so every teacher got roughly a 2,700-dollar raise, but no, he decided hurting people who had dedicated their lives to the children of Florida was the way to go, and now we are reaping what has sown with none thousand teacher vacancies a problem he promised would go away with his teacher pay scheme.

DeSantis has been a failed education leader for many reasons, but one of the biggest and most unnecessary was his teacher pay scheme that robbed Peter, veteran teachers, to pay Paul, people who had never even stepped foot in a classroom. 

 

The school board should consider firing Greene before they can't. What comes next will be worse.(draft)

 DeSantis replaced most of the Broward county school board. Four democrat women, with four republican men, and they promptly took over.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/08/29/newly-appointed-broward-school-board-members-prepare-to-take-seats/

DeSantis used grand jury findings as his reason for doing so; the same grand jury now has DCPS in its crosshairs. 

From Florida Politics, 

 The grand jury report that shook up the Broward County School Board last week also prompted the state Department of Education to send letters to four other school districts warning of failures to follow the state’s school safety requirements.

The letters arrived Monday asking superintendents in Broward, Duval, Orange, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties to meet with officials from the State Department of Education (DOE) to address items that Tim Hay, director of the Office of Safe Schools said required an in-person meeting due to the “gravity of the issues.”

“We have reason to believe that some of the policies and actions the grand jury found are ongoing and require immediate action,” all five letters dated Monday say.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/553484-grand-jury-report-puts-four-more-school-districts-safety-procedures-under-state-scrutiny/

What has to be most troubling in the grand jury findings is the DCPS police chief was allowed to keep his job a year after the findings had come out...

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/education/executive-director-of-duval-co-school-police-department-resigns/77-1774378c-e549-4eb5-91c7-ce6ab9e3888a

and Duval Schools administration enabled Edwards' actions, the report says. 

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2022/08/19/statewide-grand-jury-former-duval-schools-chief-underreported-crimes/7843861001/

DeSantis is coming for duly elected democratic school board members in blue counties, and Willie, Jones, Hershey, and Andersen may all be replaced in the next few days or weeks. If you don't think it could ever happen here, look at Broward County. The Governor is not a man who plays by the rules; like a fascist, he makes the rules up as he goes along.

A couple of things. You might think Greene's been great and the district should keep her; well, she hasn't, and even her victories, the referendum, and millage have been two steps forward and one step back. The referendum didn't pass until after the district was forced to give charter schools hundreds of millions of dollars, and the district has still not committed to giving staff milage money this year. After some token resistance to Tallahassee when she started, she has been all in on the destructive agenda because, in my opinion, there is only one person Greene cares about, and that is Greene.

Hershey's a republican; they would never let her go. Hershey has been a reliable supporter of public ed and accept those calculated hiccups when she considered running for state office as a solid school board member. The Governor wouldn't hesitate to cut her if it meant a complete takeover of the school board.

How could the Governor keep Joyce and get rid of Willie? Well, I could see a scenario where the Governor says he was in leadership on the board, and Joyce was not. Her incompetence, in effect, saved her. 

Couldn't Greene resign and take the hit for DCPS after all, she has to be at least partly and probably mostly responsible. HAHAHAHAHAHa good one; I couldn't imagine her doing anything that doesn't advance or serve her agenda. 

The board could preempt any moves by DeSantis by laying all the problems on Greene's feet, where I am sure they rightfully belong, and move on. Heck, if they rush things, they could have a new super in place before our insurrectionist Barbie sb member is sworn in.

I get the board has inexplicably been some of Greene's biggest cheerleaders, but if they don't do something soon, they may never be able to do something, and what comes next will be worse for everyone, everyone that cares about public ed, that is.

Passing the millage increase was the right thing to help teachers, but it wasn't the neccassasry thing.

 Passing the millage increase was the right thing to help teachers, especially veteran teachers who had seen their salaries go backward and were the victims of Governor DeSantis's pay new teachers more scheme. 

You see, two years ago, when DeSantis, with much fanfare, announced he would solve the then emerging teacher shortage problem by raising starting teacher salaries, he did so not by allocating new money but by ending two admittedly flawed programs, school recognition funds and best and brightest, that despite the flaws did put money in the pockets of many veteran teachers, pockets DeSantis reached his hands into to pay for his new program.

Fast forward two years, and this disrespect where the state robbed Peter, veteran teachers to pay Paul, new ones, and exacerbated by his constant culture wars against education and the pandemic, the emerging problem had transformed into a full-on disaster, one where a 13-year veteran teacher and a first-year teacher made basically the same amount. 

So the city did the right thing by fixing another of DeSantis's education mistakes, but it did not do the necessary thing.

You see, during the run-up to the vote, the Superintendent, school board, the teachers union, and various public education supporters pushing to pass the milage increase kept a secret from the public, a secret that if the public knew, might stop them from supporting the mileage increase and that's it will do very little if anything to stem the tide of teachers leaving. In short, it will have a negligible effect at best.  

Most veteran teachers, those in the profession for 15 years or longer, lifers, weren't going anywhere. They had decided that despite the overwhelming demand, unrealistic expectations, the odious and often ridiculously unnecessary legislation, and the constant attacks from the governor and his allies, they weren't going to stay. Teaching is in the blood, and if they haven't left by now, they weren/t whether the mileage passed or not.

The real churn and burn in the teacher corp are younger teachers where the mode, the most common number of years of experience is one, and the majority don't last five years. 

More money will not fix that exodus, and the governor's beginning teacher pay scheme more than proved that. No, if we want to save public education, something that will be made worse with the governor's latest veteran and first responders scheme, we have to address what I mentioned above. The crushing workload, the unrealistic expectations, and the governor and his allies constantly using teachers as punching bags to gin up their culture wars. 

A higher salary is the right thing. It was great that the citizens of Jacksonville said that just because Tallahassee has shirked its responsibility to adequately fund education, we won't. It is a good feeling to know a sizeable portion of the city has teachers' backs. That being said, I think it's important people understand what they did, that they understand they did the right thing, not the necessary thing, if they want to stem the exodus of teachers, that is.

You see, most teachers don't make decisions based on money; if they did, they wouldn't be teachers.  

Teflon Greene helps cover up, up to 159 batteries on school board employees

 First, let me say discipline was bad before Greene got here; and what was reported in the grand jury report outlining gross mismanagement and coverups of discipline can't be laid entirely at Greene's feet; that being said, she was hired on 7/1/2018, and this report goes through 2019, the first 18 months of her tenure.

A scathing grand jury report came out in December 2020 about what was happening here. 

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2020/12/11/duval-schools-police-department-lambasted-grand-jury-florida-safety-report/3893537001/

However, the fact the DCPS chief of police was allowed to keep his job for another year can be laid at her feet.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/education/executive-director-of-duval-co-school-police-department-resigns/77-1774378c-e549-4eb5-91c7-ce6ab9e3888a

He kept his job until January of 2021, despite the grand jury saying his leadership was a debacle. Greene must have looked at it and thought, whatever, he's doing a good job.

It gets worse because the grand jury reports to cover-ups by administrators. 

From the Times Union,

"We will have more to say about other Districts in the future," the grand jury said. "But one District provided an illustration of these infirmities so flagrant and unambiguous we have little choice but to acknowledge it now and take direct action."

"No other law enforcement agency treats any crime in this fashion, much less such a serious felony," the report said, voicing concern that serious crimes would not be reported to state law enforcement or go through the education department's mandated School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting process. "This conduct is not simply irresponsible; it is absolutely criminal." 

Duval Schools administration enabled Edwards' actions, the report says. 

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2022/08/19/statewide-grand-jury-former-duval-schools-chief-underreported-crimes/7843861001/

Duval's school administration enabled Edwards actions, read that again, and then ask yourself, while those people that enabled, felonies, buried batteries on employees, and ignored accusations of child pornography and bomb threats still have their jobs.

Greene left Manatee county with a horde of scandals, and whatever she does here seems to slide off the backs of the SB, and it's not right.

What the &#%$ Duval? 

The system lets another teacher down

 You know there was a time when being a teacher meant something. It was a noble profession held in high esteem. Not anymore, and if you want proof, look at how the system ruined the life of a local teacher of the year.

 A slight 5'2 teacher was accused of bloodying a much larger student who had recently engaged in death threats against the teacher. Without any evidence, she was removed from teaching and forced to wait in limbo while the system took 10 months to come to its conclusion. There was no video evidence, and the teacher passed a lie detector test, but that didn't matter. The student who posted death threats was given every benefit of the doubt, while the teacher who had their life upended was given none.

It took ten months for there to be a conclusion, not an exoneration, not an apology, and definitely not a consequence for the student who posted death threats, just a decision where the parent of the child and the state's attorney agreed that the teacher could no longer work at the school where the allegations occurred. 

$&%# that, it's the kid who should be sent packing, not the teacher, but as usual, the system doesn't care about teachers; nope, all it wants to do is chew them up and spit them out.

Friends, I am stuck in the teaching profession, 5 years from retirement, but if you are not, run.

To learn more, click the link, https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2022/08/22/charges-dropped-against-former-teacher-of-the-year-accused-of-striking-student/?Q

Just some run of the mill corruption from DCPS

 So this is the long and the short of it; at the P.E. in service, a district person told all in attendance to not use one vendor and instead you a vendor owned by the husband of a district staff member; I wish I could make this up. 

For years various district sports teams have used BSN uniforms, and at the training were told to stop.

https://www.bsnsports.com/team-uniforms

Instead, they were steered to T5

https://www.t5sportswear.com/

Which is owned by Robert Talley, 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-talley-8445294/

and that name should sound familiar to you. He is married to Tammy Talley, the district's very own award-winning athletic director.

https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2022/06/23/humbled-and-honored-duval-county-ad-tammie-talley-stunned-to-win-national-award/

Humbled and honored and perhaps about to get a lucrative payday. 

I was told a few days later BSN came off the banned list, but the damage may already be done. Then think about this if you are in district sports and want to curry favor, what better way to do it than by supporting the husband of the athletic director? The phrase appearance of impropriety comes to mind. 

I am pretty sure none of this was illegal, and as far as I know, no one is slipping Mrs. Talley twenties under the table, or she is promising whatever she can promise to teams that buy her husband's uniforms either, but that doesn't make what transpired right.

We should and could be doing better. 

For a district with a reading problem, DCPS seems to be doing all they can to make it worse.

 First, let me start with my disclaimer. 

Before people blame the state and try and let DCPS off the hook, let me say I know the state is terrible, I know the state does DCPS and public education no favors. Still, I also know DCPS has a nasty habit of taking bad things and making them worse; this is just another example. 

So teachers were told not to create new or add to classroom libraries.

This despite nowhere in the state guidance is classroom libraries mentioned.

https://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-9557/dps-2022-83.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0oLXUOOPjMEY00FDp46n4WaORl7qCdgX5tQDHzlp9Fg1NaCHIlE8RKx6A

 Now they do mention media specialists a lot; unfortunately, DCPS long ago got rid of most of their media specialists.

The Florida Freedom to read project offered guidance to the districts, which included not neutering teachers and treating them like professionals, or you know, the opposite of what DCPS prefers to do.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/flfreedomread

And did I mention that DCPS long ago got rid of most of their media specialists? If I did, I am not sorry because it begs to be repeated often. 

What the district is doing is a choice, they did not have to play it this way, and would it kill the super or board to stand up for public ed? Fight back? Inform the public? Treat teachers like professionals? I ask because my view from the cheap seats seems to indicate it would.

A district media specialist who is about to become insanely busy reached out to me and said.

I wanted to let you know that many of the media specialists at Wednesday's district service were left with more questions than answers. The person in charge of textbooks & instructional materials basically told us to "not make a big deal out of the new law" and everything would "blow over" in time. Dr. Renfroe basically echoed these comments and told us the district was still trying to receive guidance from the state and in a reactive position. Other counties have gone so far as to ban media centers til further notice. They have not done so in Duval but we were advised to cancel any fall book fairs with Scholastic because they were not vetting their books to make sure they were in accordance with state law. (I do not blame Scholastic as I would not like to open myself up to lawsuits either.) We were encouraged to seek out other vendors, but as you probably Scholastic is by far the biggest in the country.

One of my colleagues also inquired about DTU's response to all of this. They were stonewalled and given the impression that media specialists were pretty low on their priority list. Many of the media specialists at the district training are worried about what might happen if we read the wrong book during read-aloud. Will DTU protect us, or will

we be thrown to the wolves/helicopter moms? Dr. Renfroe seemed to suggest that we could not be held liable since the training media specialists are to receive to be in compliance with this law will not be until JANUARY. This did not ease our concerns. Many of us hold master's degrees in Library Science and have been certified for years. Yet we are told that we need this training to review the content of books for whatever they don't like at this time? To me, a good book is one that offends somebody. It's all subjective. There are forms available for parents to fill out if they do not wish for their children to check out certain types of books. But for those same parents to dictate what other parents want for their children is to me censorship.

It is censorship, and if the district has a problem with it, it sure is hard to tell.

In fact, it is censorship and the district seems to be reveling in it.

DCPS neuters the teaching of social studies, tells teachers they are no longer professionals. (draft)

 Before people blame the state and try and let DCPS off the hook, let me say I know the state is terrible, I know the state does DCPS and public education no favors. Still, I also know DCPS has a nasty habit of taking bad things and making them worse; this is just another example. 

At the mid-week social studies meeting, teachers were told not to use extraneous materials unless they are approved. For those at home who don't know how things work, teachers are given standards to teach and often a curriculum in which to teach it; sometimes, however, they are just given the standard and have to develop their own materials or use other materials to enhance their teaching. Social studies teachers were warned not to do the latter unless they received permission; a process, knowing the district, won't be quick.

Think about that Newspapers out, current events out, location-specific materials like teaching Axe Handle Sunday, or how at one time, the district was almost decertified because of racial animous, out. This means most teachable moments and creativity are, you guessed it, out. You know, because teachers can't be trusted to be professionals.

It gets worse because this directly contradicts some standards that various classes have like:

 SS.7.C.2.13: students will examine multiple perspectives on current issues

SS.7.C.2.11: students will analyze media and political communications for bias, symbolism, and propaganda

I guess since those standards might outrage a Mom 4 Liberty loon, they are out too. Think about that, rather than sticking up and fighting for teachers; the district would rather neuter them all to appease a handful of loons who may or may not say something.

This may affect more than social studies teachers. I teach a life skills class to profoundly disabled children, and as part of my morning meeting, we watch CNN10 and do a Brain pop episode; sometimes, they talk about real things like politics and civil rights; do I need to get permission for them as well?

I am sure there is a workaround that allows teachers to be professional and creative and follow the new laws, but the district never looks for them; they ask the state how high they want them to jump and then try and jump even higher, and it's despicable.

We could and should be doing better; unfortunately, DCPS's leadership doesn't seem interested in doing so. Below and not its teachers is who DCPS has sided with to the detriment of us all.

Teachers need to finally learn a hard lesson

The education system depends on teachers giving millions of unpaid hours, sacrificing their time with friends and family, and what little money they have to make sure things keep moving. Unfortunatly many teachers think these sacrifices are noble, and they are not. By doing so, they allow this awful system to continue and doom future generations to endure the same horrible conditions. Teachers, for many of us its time to learn a hard lesson and that's we are a huge part of the problem.

If teachers aren't going to be treated with respect and compensated appropriately, and both, not one or the other, then the system should get an honest day's work and nothing more. Do not come in early, do not stay late, do not volunteer for extra (unpaid) duties, and do not stress about things that do not get done. It's not your fault; it's a system that thinks it's okay to put a yoke on you. It's a system that thinks overworking, under paying and disrespecting its people, is just fine.  

Some teachers and families and many elected officials might think teachers can't do that, that their students desperately need all the extra they do, and it's true. Still, it's families and elected officials' jobs to provide it. 

A few years back, teachers all over the nation were tired of being blamed for society's ills and both paid and treated like second class, citizens rose in protest and demanded more pay and better working conditions, and at the time, they won too. So what did society do? They punished teachers. Teachers went from heroes to zeroes, pedophiles and groomers, and who stood up for us? Some parents, sure, but not enough, and it sure wasn't superintendents and school boards. In very few and far between instances, they were challenging these lies and calling them out. Nope, they preferred to remain quiet less they get the attention of a small but loud and sometimes scary mob. 

Teachers, by their nature, are givers, and I am here to let you know that in years past, their altruism allowed the system to run roughshod over them; it has exploited them, and because teachers permitted it to happen, the entire system has suffered for it.

My wife works in multi-family housing, and for the most part, with great residents, but in every community, a few cause most of the drama. I tell her don't be surprised when assholes act like assholes; well, friends, that is the education system; teachers shouldn't be surprised they are given too much to do and not enough resources or enough time to do it because that's what assholes do. It's only going to stop, and things are only going to improve when enough teachers say enough and when enough teachers say no more. 

Teachers have now become nurses, social workers, disciplinarians, and truant officers because administrations won't get involved until you try multiple interventions or attempts. Then we are paper-pushers, and boy oh boy, do we push paper. When I started teaching twenty years ago, my lesson plan was a little box on a calendar. Now it's a four-page, eight-font monstrosity, and then there is the data I am required to take on every student, in every class, every day. Data that, for the most part, sits there helping no one. Teachers today often have fewer and fewer resources and more and more demands and responsibilities. These demands also often take away from the number one thing we are supposed to do, teach. We didn't start this fire that's always burning, and it's time we put it out because, unlike in years past, we finally have something we haven't had, and that's leverage.

There is a projected 300k shortage of teachers. In Florida, they have 9k openings and only graduated 2k teachers. It doesn't matter how far they diminish qualifications; things will only get worse when those remaining teachers are required to do more and more. What will they do to you if you just work really hard during the time you are paid to work? They aren't going to fire you, that's for sure.

In short, in good years, teachers were given way too much to do and not nearly enough time and resources to do it, all while their actual pay because of the rising costs of benefits and inflation is decreasing. That was in good years. GOOD YEARS!

Somewhere along the way, things changed. Teachers went from revered members of the community too; you're lazy and selfish if you don't think schools should solve all the ills of society, and you care about your and your family's health. How dare you; what about the children?   

We need to stop working for free, not just for ourselves but for the future of public education. So, teachers, do you and your students a favor, work to the contract, and not one minute more. The future of education, and the teaching profession, depend upon it. 

April Carney refuses to answer the J6 question

 Your child, while standing next to the open cookie jar with crumbs on their shirt may not answer the question, did they take some cookies or not but you can be pretty sure of the answer. At this point April Carney may have not answered if she participated in the insurection but we should all know the answer.

I asked her is she had and she refused to answer and I know at least one other local news outles has as well. If she has nothing to hide, then why is she doing all this hiding?

She has skipped forums, where the question might have come up and scrubbed her social media from the time period, this along with her silence speaks volumes. 

If she didn't participate, this is an easy fix, she could say so, her dogged refusal however is more than revealing.

To lean more, click the links,

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2022/07/sb-candidate-april-carney-will-go-on.html

 https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2022/07/was-sb-candidate-april-carney-at-j6-and.html

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2022/07/did-sb-candidate-april-carney-scrub-her.html

WJXT reporter Joe McLean throws M4L Candidate April Carney a slew of slow pitch softballs.

 I get it; unless you are in the @&%#, it's hard to understand the @&%#. Channel 4's education reporter Joe Mclean is an observer. He isn't in it, but that shouldn't exempt him from doing his job and asking the tough questions. How's your day going, and what did you have for lunch? The equivalent of the questions he asked Carney in a recent interview didn't do his readers any favors and don't count.

Take a second and read his interview with the district 2 candidates, Liz Andersen and April Carney.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2022/08/01/prospective-duval-county-school-board-candidates-share-their-views-ahead-of-race-for-district-2/

Did you notice anything there, like anything approaching a tough question to Carney, and her behavior dictates that she deserved more than a few.

First, her involvement in J6 is something she has refused to either acknowledge or put to bed. If she doesn't have anything to hide, then why is she doing all this hiding?

Next, her group M4L showed up en masse to a couple school board meetings and accused teachers of being pedophiles and groomers. Does she share her group's thoughts? If so, what will she do to root out and expose all those deviant teachers? Follow up, how many of DCPS's teachers are deviants? Shouldn't she disavow them if she doesn't share their point of view?

Then there is the governor. Now I don't expect her to decline his endorsement even though it is the decent and right thing to do. Still, I would like to know if she believes all the crazy things he says about teachers, the latest being that teachers ask children if they think they have the right gender and would like to switch. A sentence that has never happened in a DCPS school.

What about her skipping the JPEF forum and the Delores Bar Weaver panel but going to an event put on by Raymond Johnson, a man who routinely attacks the LBTQ community and recently said that Superinetendte Greene should be arrested? Does she share that view? 

Heck, she didn't even say if she was for the millage increase. Joe, what about a follow-up question, like what the &#%$ do you mean you haven't made up your mind? Come on, the election is three weeks away.

These are all questions that demand to be asked, but unfortunately, the local media and Mclean's recent piece, he couldn't be bothered to do so.

One of my frequent complaints over the years is the media doesn't ask the tough questions, or you know their jobs. Unfortunately, in this race, nothing seems to have changed. 

 Say it ain't so, Joe, say it ain't so. 

Charlotte Joyce has stopped giving a @&!$ It is time to send her home.

 Charlotte Joyce passed on the JPEF forum, the Delores Bar Weaver panel, and now the Jax indivisible forum about the millage increase. She has been given opportunity after opportunity to engage, and she has refused. One thing she did not pass on was speaking at a panel hosted by Raymond Johnson, a noted homophobe who has accused teachers of being pedophiles and groomers and who has inexplicably called for Superintendent Greene's arrest for "reasons". 

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2022/05/charlotte-joyce-sides-with-rampant.html

Charlotte Joyce has been a disaster on the board, on the opposite of every important education issue, and she has pushed anti-teacher, and anti-public ed stances that she has to know are not true.  It is time to send her home.

 Luckily there is another candidate, Tanya Hardaker, and if you care about and support public education, she is the only candidate in that race. If you live in District 6, please vote for her; if you don't, encourage your friends to do so.

https://www.facebook.com/people/Tanya-Hardaker-for-School-Board-District-6/100082013348100/?ref=py_c

Superintendent Greene says we are all in this together, um are we?

 In the media, Greene said we are all in this together, against the rising realization that we won't have enough teachers when school starts in two weeks. She announced several plans, including increased class size, certified staff teaching instead of doing the jobs they were hired to do, paying subs more, and admin, including her subbing. Funny, I don't feel like we are in this all together.

Before I continue, I want to say the district made this announcement because they got caught. I made a media inquiry about it last week, and I am sure real media outlets did too. There had been rumors for a couple weeks, and only after the district knew they could no longer hide their plan did they make an announcement. I sincerely believe they were just hoping teachers would show up and either not notice or, like they usually do, just take it. By the way, I am still waiting for a response to that inquiry.

Next, I have to say nobody believes the district when it says class sizes will go up a student or two. I have already talked to teachers who have seen their class lists, and they have seen jumps of 5 or more. Now I get it; things start to even out when the year begins, but this district long ago lost its credibility with teachers, especially when it comes to considering the district's actions toward them.

Also, do some of those suggestions seem similar? Oh yeah, we heard them all (except raising class sizes) earlier this year when the omicron wave hit. They didn't work then, so why should we think they would work now?  

Then can somebody let the super know that coming in late, leaving early, and not being alone for a second is not subbing? I would love for her to sub. I really would, but what she did was babysitting and a photo op.

Finally, if she were sincere, there are things she could do to show that we are all in this together. Let's eliminate common planning or pull it back to once a month on early release days. If they are putting stuff on teachers' plates, let's also take some stuff off. Streamline lesson plans. When I started teaching, they were notes on a box on a calendar. Now they are four-page 8 font monstrosities where I am supposed to plan and anticipate everything and spoiler; all they do is sit in my lesson plan book because I don't write them for me I write them for admins that wander in. Then be understanding when things inevitably break down, or teachers get behind. Friends, no one going to die if, god forbid, I forget to enter something into focus one day. 

We aren't in this together, and it's insulting that Greene says we are but actively shows teachers repeatedly that they are not.

The super has forgotten that nobody would notice if she took the day off, but when teachers do, everyone they come into contact with does. She has forgotten that the better the district treats its teachers, the better they will be for our students, and she has forgotten what it is really like to be in this together.

DCPS pours gas on its dumpster fire!

 I want to point out that the state has done DCPS and public ed no favors. A large amount of the blame for where we find ourselves should fall clearly on their shoulders. That being said, Greene shouldn't get a pass. Her "teachers are easily replaceable cogs" policies of the last few years have exacerbated a terrible situation, and she deserves criticism too. With that out of the way, let's try and come up with solutions that don't make teachers miserable and put more on their plates, or you, the only solutions that DCPS ever comes up with. 

First paras, my para can't cover my class when I am out; nope, I have to get a sub, or another teacher has to.  This has never made sense to me. We have a lot of excellent paras that could cover for a class or a day or heck in this climate where wives of veterans with 60 hours can be teachers, an extended time. Ask for volunteers and pay them a little more and, hopefully, more than whatever terrible stipend they give to teachers now is.   

Retired teachers, let's bring them back and set up packages. You commit to just one period a day, get this, two, you get more, and so on. With inflation, I am sure more than a couple might want a part-time job, but the thing is, we have to make sure all that extra stuff like common planning, complicated lesson plans, and all the other BS that really makes teachers hate their jobs, never gets on their plates. Remember, friends, we are doing triage here.

Then let's go to the colleges and bring in what few colleges of ed kids there are and offer them a similar deal. They might as well learn now, and easing into teaching may be a better plan than shoving them into the deep end and hoping for the best.

Finally, and this one makes me cringe a little bit, offer signing bonuses to teachers from the surrounding counties, and instead of sending them to where they are most needed, let them pick their spots. I get it, this will not help at all our neediest schools, but if it fills some slots, it's a win. 

I have to believe there are better solutions than jacking up class sizes, and nobody believes it will be just one or 2 kids here or there, putting more on teachers' plates and surplusing an unlucky amount to fill holes. What I don't believe is the district is trying to come up with them.

Any suggestions? Let me know, and in a day or two, I will compile them and send them to the district, where I am sure Greene will promptly ignore them. The thing is, I figure I can't just complain. I have to try and be part of the solution even though, as a teacher, I am always the last one asked.

  

DCPS raised starting salaries nearly 6k and the teacher shortage problem got worse

 First, I want to say, the state does public education and DCPS no favors. In fact, it often seems they are working to undermine public education. That being said, time and time again, when placed in a hole, the district's sole inclination appears to be to keep digging. Two years ago, DCPS raised starting salaries by nearly 6k, and are teacher shortage is worse than ever; one would think Greene would understand it's not all about pay, but nope, either she doesn't or she doesn't care.  

To mitigate the staffing crisis, DCPS seems to be employing two strategies, raising class sizes and involuntarily transferring people through the surplus process. Both strategies will join just raising starting salary as failures exacerbating staffing issues.  

Two years ago, when DeSantis proposed his payroll scheme, which robbed Peter, veteran teachers to pay Paul new teachers, I practically begged the super and SB to go on the offensive and to explain to people how detrimental this was going to be and either they didn't think t would be or like with so many other important education issues they chose to be silent.

Now I want to beg the super and SB to rethink this strategy which I believe will be devastating. The district cannot yoke teachers and work them insane amounts, and it can't force them to leave schools they chose to be at to go to schools they didn't. Sure, many teachers will sigh and go along, beaten by the system, but how many will leave? How many can we afford to let leave?   

I have been told our openings are closer to 700 than the 400 number they mention in the media, but we are approaching a tipping point with either number.

The district thinks that if they just throw money at the problem, the problem will magically go away, but if the past is prologue, we see the negative effects that just raising starting salary had, we should understand by now that money is not the only problem that needs to be addressed. 

Making teachers unhappy and giving teachers even more work is a losing strategy. If Greene doesn't get that, it's time to get rid of Greene. 

Charter school operator John Rood obliterates the spirit of campaign finance laws to support April Carney

 People on the right often ask school board candidates what they promised teacher unions that give them donations, and I always wonder what they could promise them? To pay teachers fairly, to treat them like professionals? Seriously what could they promise? Now with charter school operators, I can imagine what SC candidates promise them because charter schools are a business, and business is good for their owners anyways.  

That brings me to investor John Rood, the one most responsible for bringing the classical charter schools to town. He has obliterated the spirit of campaign finance laws and donated to MAGA darling April Carney 9 times. Oh, and the classical charters are run by homophobes and get their curriculum from arguably white supremacists and have done a poor job educating their students, but that's another story.

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2020/02/troubling-details-about-jaxs-new.html

So if you or I wanted to donate to a campaign are limits would be 1k in the primary and 1k in the general. If you are rich, however &#%$ the laws, and donate as much as you want as John Rood has done.

https://www.duvalelections.com/Candidate-Information/Search-Local-Contributions-And-Expenditures

9k from one guy, 9k from a charter school guy, 9k from a charter school guy who doesn't mind working with homophobes and arguably white supremacists.

I want to remind me that above is perfectly legal; it's how the system is set up. A system that benefits the rich and allows them unequal access; however, being legal doesn't make it right. 

April Carney and John Rood should have some explaining to do, and question number one is why they feel gaming the system and violating the spirit of laws is okay. The next should be if they are going to do it here, where else will they do it. 

 If you care about public education, if you have any concerns about the quality of charter schools and how they lack accountability and siphon money out of the system, please support Liz Andersen for the school board.

https://www.andersen4dcps.com/